Uno Pizza

On day 1 - the kids come home with fundraiser info. That's a whole post in an of itself. Like - Day 1? Really? Welcome to school! Here, go sell stuff!

And then the fundraisers themselves suck - Entertainment Books and Sally Foster gift certificates. The school sends home an Entertainment book that you are suggested to either buy or sell - but please don't return it. OK, but then they sent home TWO. One for each kid. And who wants a Sally Foster gift certificate?? Why can't I just donate $25? Which, I guess I could but now I'm annoyed with the PTO - so probably won't.

Then finally there was Market Day, which if you don't know what it is - it's kindof like Schwanns with a kickback to the schools. Frozen meals - whoo-hoo! Another way to give money to the school, and oh by the way, don't forget to save your boxtops.

Day 1. Day 1.....

Anyway, the second problem (other than me being annoyed) was that Jacob was very excited that he got "a coupon for a game of Uno" at school. He wanted to go get his Uno game on Wednesday afternoon. When we got home, I realized it wasn't a coupon for an Uno game, but a coupon for Uno's pizza - if you buy the Entertainment Guide. Jacob was very upset to hear this news. (why my 5-yr old doesn't know the name of what used to be my favorite pizza place is probably testament to how our eating habits have changed since we lived in Madison). So I promised him Uno Pizza on Friday (today) so that he could use his coupon, even though it means at least one full night of indigestion.

Luckily, Brian has a $25 gift certificate for Uno's that he got last year for being in a focus group, so we don't have to buy the Entertainment Guide. As much as I complained about the cost of spring soccer - at least you did have a fundraiser buyout option.

Next post - "To spell or not to spell" the question of spelling tests....

First Day of School

Allison and Jacob went back to school today!


Allison is a Second Grader!


And Jacob is in Kindergarten!

Bay Beach

So - we found something we should have found a long time ago. On Wednesday (my last day of summer) the kids and I went up to Bay Beach amusement park in Green Bay with Jacob's friend Dominic, his mom, and his brother Evan. It's free to get in, and then the rides are either $0.25 or $0.50 each (almost all the little kids rides were a quarter. Three hours and ice cream cones for all - less than $10 total.

Here's Allison - not having any resemblance to the ride itself.....


Most of the little kid rides were variations on a theme. Central pivot point, circular motion, arm attached to .... ladybug, car, fire engine, bomber, caterpillar, boat, etc.



The big kid rides we avoided because they were things that spun (teacups and the like). There was a giant slide, Allison and I went together and she didn't like it that much. There were also bumper cars, but Allison and Jacob were not interested. Next year (?) there will be a roller coaster.



We waited a LONG time to ride the train, which was very anticlimactic. There was also a Merry-Go-Round, which Allison loved. Since I bought $15 in tickets, and we spent less than $10 - I guess we'll just have to go back.

One more paddle

We went kayaking again today. It was a beautiful day, and the lake water seemed even clearer than it usually is. We paddled to the public dock - went swimming and had a picnic - then paddled back. The kids were great until the car ride home. Too much sun... too tired... I don't know.

When we got home - we attended to a few yard issues. I cleaned out the pool (my newest plan involves draining the gross stuff to the yard rather than through the filter). It's better but still needs work. Brian also tackled the apple issue. The back of our yard is one solid layer of apples. We don't know what to do with them because there are too many for the compost bin and we don't have any hunting ground to use them to bait deer.

Love / Hate

Generally, I love calendars (they are like "To Do" lists for time). However, right now, I'm in a love/hate relationship with my Google calendar. I'm inescapably drawn to it - and yet at the same time it creates an incredible amount of panic.

My new online courses go live in 1 week - my face-to-face classes start in 2 weeks. The remaining August days are filled with all those things I wanted to get done this summer but didn't - and not the fun stuff either... the "take-the-car-in-for-that-recall" kind of stuff. You'd think that the looming deadlines and the "No, I have NOT finished that syllabus" would provide some motivation. Instead, I'm like a deer caught in the headlights with my heart racing but my legs locked. This should be a fun year.

Other fun vacation pictures

Keep the trees or not?

We have 5 large (LARGE - like 60-80 ft) cottonwoods in a strand between our house and our neighbors. Some people around the block happened to have some guys out to cut down 15 comparably large cottonwood trees today from their yard because they got concerned following the large storms that we've had this summer. So, I asked the guy to come around and give us an estimate for taking down our cottonwood trees. It was very reasonable.

So, I'm pro-ing and con-ing the trees. Pro - shade, privacy. Con - cotton, sticky pods, branches (see pic from earlier), the potential to fall on the house, the need to disassemble the pool filter twice a summer, the fouling of the air conditioner, and the moss on the roof. And one is rotting at the base.

Conscience - can I really take down 5 trees that have been there longer than we have? Then, what do we put in their place? Finally - would I rather have granite countertops? I don't like spending money on landscaping. This explains a lot about our yard.